New Albany is a state of mind … but whose? Since 2004, we’ve been observing the contemporary scene in this slowly awakening old river town. If it’s true that a pre-digital stopped clock is right twice a day, when will New Albany learn to tell time?

Sunday, July 19, 2015

Coyle site luxury giveaway: "The people that they want to attract can't afford to live there."

Since Thursday evening's city council meeting, I've received almost a dozen e-mails and messages from New Albanians publicly identifying as Democratic, but expressing personal confusion (and in some instance, revulsion) at the Reaganite corporate welfare nature of Jeff Gahan's trickle-down Flaherty and Collins deal for luxury apartments.

Of course, you know I agree with you; the local Democratic Party has run aground, and yet it will be difficult for you to take a public stand in recognition of this reality.

That's okay. I get it. Knowing there's a problem is the first step toward resolving it. Just remember that we're here to do the right thing for the right reasons, as the late Hank Jacoby once put it, and it comes down to conscience.

... Lots of voters who ordinarily choose a side based on factors beyond the actual issues (family, habit, compulsion at work, etc) will choose to preserve the outward appearance of "this or that" conformity, while resolving internally to opt out of politics as usual and vote differently in 2015. If so, and conscience is their guide ... well, that's why the ballots are secret. No one should be looking over your shoulder.

As for the impending Coyle site giveaway, taxpayer subsidized big-city pricing to live within an errant bocce toss of fundamentally neglected one-way arterial streets, slicing through neighborhoods dominated by slumlord mentalities, just might be working at cross-purposes with millennial aggrandizement. It's complicated, as the following essay suggests.

... Then came some interesting data, pegged to the release of 2014 Census information this spring: Millennials have indeed started moving out of big city downtowns—but not necessarily in favor of a quiet rural or suburban life.

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How will we know that downtown revitalization is succeeding?

Downtown businessmen don't have to be told that racism is unacceptable.

Downtown coffee shops have enough business to be open evenings and weekends.